Highlanes Gallery
About
Highlanes is Drogheda's municipal art gallery, and it occupies the former Franciscan church of St Francis on St Laurence Street, a building that still reads as a church from the street and still has its stained glass in place. It opened on 4 October 2006 after years of campaigning for a proper visual arts space for the north east, and it holds the Drogheda Municipal Art Collection, more than a hundred works assembled from a nucleus put together by the artist Bea Orpen, her husband Terry Trench and the 1947 Museum Committee. The programme rotates through contemporary exhibitions rather than sitting on the collection, and there is a steady run of talks, walking tours and Sunday courtyard performances alongside it. Admission is free. The Five Good Things cafe adjoins it and shares an entrance onto St Laurence Street, which makes this a natural place to stop rather than a detour.
Photos
Highlights
- ✓The former Franciscan church interior, stained glass and sanctuary still in place
- ✓The Drogheda Municipal Art Collection, over 100 works
- ✓Free admission, Tuesday to Saturday
- ✓Five Good Things cafe adjoining, with its own door onto St Laurence Street
Tips
- →Closed Sundays and Mondays; the run is Tuesday to Saturday, 10:30am to 5pm.
- →Groups larger than eight are asked to book ahead so the gallery can plan touring options.
- →No food or drink in the gallery itself, which is what the adjoining cafe is for.
Best Season
More Attraction Activities
Drogheda Museum Millmount and the Martello Tower
The Anglo-Norman mound above the south bank, with a Martello tower on top, the Old Drogheda Society's museum around its base, and the best view in the town.
St Peter's Church and the Shrine of St Oliver Plunkett
The national shrine of St Oliver Plunkett on West Street, holding the martyred archbishop's preserved head, in a working parish church rather than a museum.
St Laurence's Gate and the Town Walls
The 13th-century barbican at the east end of St Laurence Street, the finest surviving piece of one of medieval Ireland's largest walled towns.